Taijiquan 太極拳 (Tai Chi)

Taijiquan is well-known in the western world as a powerful health and meditation art, but it is also a very powerful martial art. Taiji was developed by the Daoist immortal Zhang, San-Feng during the Song Dynasty. Later it was passed to the Chen family in Henan Province where it thrived as the art of choice among those in the family who made a living as bodyguards and security personnel. It was then passed to the Yang family who moved to Beijing and spread the art to the world. The style of Taijiquan taught in the Academy is that of the “Dan Pai” or Dan Sect of Daoism and includes the Traditional Wudang Mountain Taiji of the monks and Wudang Free-Step Taijiquan which was created by a layman disciple.

Traditional Wudang Taiji is the style of Taiji originally taught on Wudang Mountain in Yu Zhen Daoist Temple. It was passed down to Master Chang, Wu-Na and Dr. Lu, Mei-hui by their master, Grandmaster Ma, Jie, who grew up on Wudang Mountain as a Daoist monk. This style utilizes flexible body movements and powerful Qigong meditation to boost the practitioner’s health, and lethal fighting applications to train self-defense.

Besides strong martial applications, all the techniques are designed based on theories in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) about meridians and acupuncture points as well as the relationship of qi flowing with the functioning of internal organs. Traditional Wudang Taiji thus has very strong healing properties. It has healed many people in China, Hong Kong, Canada and Japan.

Wudang Free-Step Taijiquan is the style of Taiji that was created by the Great Master Li, Jing-lin who was the 10th Generation layman inheritor of the “Dan” sect of Wudang martial arts and a famous general in the military. It was passed down to Master Chang, Wu-Na and Dr. Lu, Mei-hui by their master, Grandmaster Qian, Timing. This style of Taiji combines all the elements of Wudang martial arts. It uses the stepping of Baguazhang, the intent of Xingyiquan, and the frame and softness of old Yang style Taijiquan. The creator of this system was trained by the Yang family in Taijiquan, and then used his vast knowledge of Wudang martial arts to create an original style. This style makes use of soft and light movements to relax the body and naturally move qi through all internal meridians. It also makes use of quick stepping and vicious hand and leg techniques to train effective self-defense.

Techniques taught as part of the Taiji curriculum include but are not limited to the following: